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03 October 2016

History of the Prague Municipal PoliceChief Executives of the Prague MP

1992The Prague MP was founded on May 11, 1992. There were only 87 officers, they only legitimated themselves by a badge and a uniform (blue trousers, a jacket and a black "lodička" [type of hat]). All officers took an oath: "I will fulfill my duty, I will protect the city's and its citizens' interests, I will obey the Constitution, the laws and all other binding regulations. I will remain silent about all facts concerning my service." In the same year, the Operations Control Center was born too. Both the MP and the OCC had their residence in the building of the Prague City Hall, in Řáskova, Prague 1. The OCC was controlled by only 2 officers working in 8-hour shifts. Nowadays, it is run by 20 officers and there are hundreds of phone calls coming into the OCC every day.Since November 1, 1992, after an agreement with Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy, the Prague MP officers operate in public transport vehicles as well.

1993In October, Psí domov (animal shelter) fell under the Prague MP and so the first town animal shelter for dogs was founded. The capacity was raised by 20 rooms to a total of 70. This number was to be progressively more than doubled in the upcoming years. A veterinary infirmary was also added. The shelter was progressively capable of taking care of exceptionally ill and tortured animals. The final capacity for dogs would reach 170 rooms. The Prague shelter would be an inspiration to many other facilities in the Czech Republic and abroad.On March 1, 1993, the officers gained new legal powers. Since then, they are authorized to prevent a vehicle from leaving that was parked in a no parking zone, on a sidewalk where prohibited, or where the vehicle is blocking the public area and the driver is not nearby.

1994On January a massive reorganization was carried out. 13 new district headquarters and 2 special units that operated throughout Prague - the Metro command and the Dog unit were established. The official residence of the Prague MP had changed several times in years 1992-1994. Finally, the former residence of the Ministry of Health, Korunní 98, Prague 10 became the new and final residence of the MP. On November the independent emergency phone number 156 was established. This line was connected to the OCC in the HQ building.

1995During February to May another reorganization had been carried out. 6 new region headquarters replaced the 13 district headquarters. These region headquarters were further divided into district headquarters. Furthermore, more units operating throughout Prague were established: Dog unit, Metro command, Traffic unit, Patrolling unit, Emergency unit (1996 - 1997).The officers gained new legal powers. They were authorized to stop a vehicle and to enter a business when carrying out their duty.

1996A new ordinance of the Ministry of the Interior instructed the officers to know a great amount of laws and regulations. Besides the Municipal Police Law, they had to know to the following (examples): Offences Law, Administration Law, Criminal Law, Land Transportation Law, Weapons and Ammunition Law, basics of criminology, psychology and more. The education was provided by the Education unit. A candidate becomes an officers after successfully passing the exams.

1998Our officers organized a special event. The Day of Blood Donation was an all-town event focused on collecting blood which would then be donated to the Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady hospital. Since then, the collaboration with the hospital has not ceased; at least once a year the officers donate blood. Besides such events, our officers individually come to the hospital and donate blood, blood plasma and bone marrow. There are hundreds of donors among the officers. Some of them are proud owners of the Jansky Plague or Golden Cross ČČK awards.A concept of a group dedicated to prevention was born. With 3 members, it operated under the Control Center of the MP.

1999A new ordinance regulating the use of pyrotechnic wares in public was accepted that would take effect on January 1, 2000. The ordinance, with the exception of the New Year's Eve (December 31 and January 1), prohibited any use of pyrotechnic wares of I. and II. class in public town-wise with the exception of places named in the annex. An officer can charge a fine on the spot. The officers contributed to ensuring the safety during the New Year's Eve celebrations. Since then, they play an essential role during the celebrations every year.

2000There were major changes in the organization structure on January 1. The region headquarters were replaced by district headquarters for each Prague district 1 - 15 that are active up to this day. The main goal was to improve the cooperation with individual municipal offices. On January 1 an independent department of criminality prevention was established that started to focus on criminality prevention and traffic safety. The OCC established an emergency line for the deaf. Deaf people would be connected via FAX to the 156 emergency services. The OCC implemented the Prague camera surveillance system which had been being and still is being expanded every year. The Alarm Monitoring System was also implemented. In 2000 a new post was introduced: the District Officer. A district officer patrols in and is responsible for a given district of the city, they also have their own office hours and have a perfect knowledge of their district.

2001On January 1, 2001 a new law authorizing officers to stop a vehicle in front of a pedestrian crossing took effect. It helped to ensure the safety of children and youth crossing the streets nearby schools and during special events. Nowadays, the officers operate at over a hundred crossings every business day during the school year. At the beginning and at the end of a school year more than 150 crossings are being guarded.

2002It had been 10 years since the Prague MP started to operate. The number of officers had risen from barely 90 to more than 1300. The Education unit, Metro command, Dog unit had been established and had already made some great achievements. In these 10 years, the animal shelter was expanded, a non-stop emergency line including services for the deaf was launched and district officers were introduced.Floods in 2002During floods the emergency staff of the Prague City Hall was relocated into the HQ building of the MP. All units of the emergency system were deployed in action and tried as hard as they could to deal with the natural disaster. The MP officers greatly contributed to dealing with the aftermath of the disaster and securing affected areas.

2003This year brought great changes to the legal powers of the officers. A new amendment of a law enabled the officers to effectively maintain the public order, cooperate with the municipal offices, authorized them to punish all legal offences in the competence of a municipality and even some offences in the competence of state administration, such as those in traffic and safety. It allowed the officers to request information from intelligence systems from individual state bodies. It authorized them to stop a vehicle in all cases when punishing an offence is in their competence as well as to order to remove a vehicle from a road. In June the River unit was established.

2004On May 20, 2004 a new animal shelter for abandoned cats in Dolní Měcholupy was established. This shelter would realize the castration program that was created to regulate the "wandering cat population" in Prague. The capacity of this facility is 200 rooms. In Prague, this was the first facility of its kind.